


Always just enough

by cherrywongs



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Oblivious Lee Donghyuck | Haechan, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-27
Updated: 2020-02-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:54:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22918783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherrywongs/pseuds/cherrywongs
Summary: Donghyuck couldn't notice someone was in love with him even if his own feelings punched him on the face.Alternatively, 5 times Mark lied to Donghyuck and one time he told him the truth.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan & Mark Lee, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 238





	Always just enough

**Author's Note:**

> so, i know it is /not/ currently valentines, and this is quite late but hey! it is still february and all over the world capitalism sells the idea it -is- the month of valentine.
> 
> i hope you like it!

_I never knew, before knowing you, how empty my life had been._

1.

Mark Lee was weird. Of course, Donghyuck had a lot of time to notice that because they'd known each other since they were in elementary school, but every day Mark's weirdness reached a new level.

It was at 10 AM when Mark called Donghyuck to tell him to meet at the park near college campus. He asked him to put on a pink shirt and didn't say anything else. And although he could just keep sleeping since he went to bed at 4 AM the night before doing a paper for his history class, he needed to know what was going on with his best friend.

So he got up from bed, took the longest shower he had had in a while, and sat in bed to brush his hair. He spent about 15 minutes watching Youtube and after seeing a girl destroy all of her makeup he picked up his keys and his wallet, connected his AirPods, pressed play on Spotify and left his room at 10:28.

He arrived at 10:32 and immediately regretted going out that day. The sun was shining bright, the air was humid and there was no sign of Mark being around, despite him saying to see him at 10:20. Mark was never on time, so there was no point in trying to do so himself if he was involved.

The benches were painfully far from the shadows, so he walked next to a tree and sat on the grass ignoring the signs that asked him to stay away from it. He took his phone out of his pocket and opened Mario Kart. His dad would always ask why his data never lasted long, and he would always say the wifi on the campus was horrible, but it was just him being irresponsible.

Ten minutes later Mark appeared with a big smile on his face, he didn’t seem annoyed by the heat, on the contrary, he was wearing a denim jacket. Donghyuck scrunched his nose, he felt desperate, as if he was the one wearing more than one layer.

"Hey."

Donghyuck raised his eyebrows at him and put his phone back in his pocket. He stared at Mark’s feet while he walked towards him and when he was right in front he looked up locking his eyes with Mark’s.

"Why am I here and not in my dorm doing nothing?"

"Good morning to you too!" Mark giggled and offered his hand to Donghyuck. He high fived him and leaned on his legs to get up. "Because today is a beautiful day!"

Donghyuck clicked his tongue and stretched his legs, Mark eyed his phone while Donghyuck tied his shoes.

"And also the only day of the week I don't have classes,” he got up and pointed at Mark with his index. “I've just spent the weekend doing classwork and I don't want to be out."

Mark smirked and grabbed Donghyuck’s finger shaking it and causing him to let out a little scream and frown.

"Stop pouting, you big baby.” He let him go and laughed at Donghyuck’s face. “I have to show you this new place Taeyong found last week." He started walking and Donghyuck followed him trying to keep up his pace.

Donghyuck wasn’t good at talking and walking at the same time, but that never bothered him, so he always did both things and get twice as tired in half of the time.

"If they don't sell tasty stuff I'm not talking to you all week-” he stopped himself and his face changed expressions real quick. “Well, if Taeyong likes it then the food must be nice," he said as if he was thinking out loud. "But if it is far! If it is far Mark Lee I swear-."

Mark coughed hiding a laugh and grabbed Donghyuck’s by the wrist to drag him through the street

"It's not far, I promise."

(...)

A 40 minutes walk later, Donghyuck was feeling like his lungs were going to come out of their place. It was not in his plans to sweat that day, but he was not athletic and Mark walked like he hated being outside and wanted to be indoors as soon as possible.

Donghyuck entered the place first, too tired to even think about saying hello. Mark was almost stepping on his heels while making noises to mock Donghyuck’s breathing. He turned around annoyed.

“Fuck you, Mark, I’m not paying here.”

Mark smiled at him, like someone who doesn’t feel the slightest bad about walking 20 streets and moved the hair that was glued to Donghyuck’s forehead because of his sweat.

"You look cute when you're mad."

Donghyuck tried way too hard to not hit him and breathed deeply as he opened his wallet and looked for a $10 bill to hand Mark.

“Go order something before I grab a cab and go back to uni.”

Mark produced a soft laugh and asked him to sit while he placed their order. Donghyuck walked to a table and sat down taking the time to pay attention to every detail of the cafe. It was cozy, not small but with enough things to make it feel familiar, the colors went from pastel pink to vibrant blue and he loved everything about it.

He was too focused on the artwork that decorated the walls when Mark came back with an incredible big milkshake, a plate of cookies and one of fries.

Donghyuck raised an eyebrow and took the tray to put it in the table, there were 6 dollars next to the receipt so he dared to take 3 and put them in his pocket without folding them.

"Only one milkshake?”

Mark took out two paper straws from his pocket and passed him one.

“It was cheaper.”

Donghyuck drew a mocking smile on his face. It sounded like bullshit. He was probably scammed by the cashier and didn’t want to admit it.

“It was?”

Mark shrugged and brought the fries closer to himself. He started eating them while Donghyuck took a sip of their milkshake.

"Your sweet tooth is disgusting."

Donghyuck bit one of his cookies and realized he had to thank Taeyong for recommending the restaurant. Not only the ambiance was amazing, but the food was also delicious, which he learned to never expect when coming to a new place, especially if it was pretty.

"Yet you're always letting me have sweet things."

Mark introduced one of his fries in their milkshake causing Donghyuck to fake gag.

"That's because you're a brat."

2.

Tuesday evening Mark told Donghyuck to go to the movies with him. He said yes not only because he usually spent half of his paycheck in movie tickets, but also because Post-Academy Awards was the best time of the year to do so. Everyone was heated about the winners and he liked hearing the dumb arguments in the line, sometimes he would step in and add things to favor the person who (according to him) was right and then things’d become hilarious.

"Are you hanging out with Mark?,” Renjun asked him.

They shared most of their classes, including his last one on that day, Story of Music, which ended at 6:45. Their faculty was a 5 minutes walk from their dorm, but they would always stop by a convenience store to grab some food, and somehow end up spending 20 minutes coming back from class.

Donghyuck inspected the snacks aisle and walked over the potato chips, he offered Renjun two packs, his friend took the Hot Pepper and Vinegar’s and he left the other again in the shelf.

"Yes!” Donghyuck didn’t want to eat much, because popcorn was the most important part of watching a movie and he didn’t want to miss it. “Do you want to come with us?.”

Renjun started moving towards the fridges and Donghyuck followed him ignoring his usual hum and waiting for his response. When he grabbed an apple juice and closed the door he finally turned around and smiled while shaking his head.

"You know I hate being a third wheel."

Donghyuck tripped over his own two feet and Renjun giggled watching him. He recovered his cool and shook his head more times than needed.

"Why would you be a third wheel?” Renjun shrugged as he took a pack of gummies and guided them to the cash register. “I mean we are best friends and sometimes people feel forgotten around us, but you're our friend too and we wouldn't like making you feel bad."

Renjun stopped, smiled at him and patted his head. Donghyuck pushed his hand off and this time Renjun left out a laugh loud.

"Your mind works in dumb ways."

Donghyuck didn’t even bother asking any questions, he put their things in front of the cashier and smiled at him.

“You’re eating lightly today,” he said.

“Jungwoo, it’s not your work to ask about how many food we’re buying.” Donghyuck placed a $10 bill in the counter and waited for his change.

“He’s going to watch a movie later.”

Jungwoo smiled and handed them their products. Donghyuck snatched it and Jungwoo giggled.

“Watching a movie without eating popcorn is okay, Donghyuck.”

Renjun left a bill in the tips jar and watched amused as his friend showed a sulky expression.

“It is not!”

(...)

The movie started at 8:20 and Donghyuck made sure to get there at 7:50. He didn't expect to see Mark there sitting with a smoothie on his hand while playing in his phone. He smiled when he saw him holding the tickets next to his drink.

He tiptoed across the mall and got behind him before clearing his throat.

"Who would've thought? You getting here, first. And buying the tickets!"

"A man can change, didn't you know?" Donghyuck giggled and put his hand on Mark's shoulder, he turned around making it weird and Donghyuck smiled. "Do you want one, too?"

He shook his hand and walked around him to sit in front of him. He once made the mistake of sitting beside someone in a food court table and they both fell on the floor. It happened to be Mark

Donghyuck waited patiently for him to finish his beverage and as soon as his cup was empty he got up and stared at Mark until he got up too.

"Let's go?"

Mark nodded and handed him the tickets.

"I have to throw this out," he shook the cup in his hand and Donghyuck didn't even look at it.

"We'll find the trash on our way there."

“You always say the same thing and I spend the next hour holding a piece of garbage.” Donghyuck noticed Mark only liked arguing with him, because none of the things he usually complained about was actually important to him, so he ignored him by drawing a beam on his face and grabbing him by the wrist to make him walk.

They strolled to the theater and got in the line.

Donghyuck looked around and was interested in some of the photographs. He thought about starting to take classes.

"Little Women looks amazing," he said.

Mark took a look at the schedule and peeked his watch, he furrowed his eyebrows and nodded to himself.

"Let's watch it."

Donghyuck pointed to a trash can and shook his head.

"We already have tickets for Sonic."

Mark smiled and threw his empty cup to the trash. It failed, but a little girl picked it up and put it on its place. Donghyuck laughed out loud and Mark jokingly punched him.

"I can ask them to change these ones for some for it."

Donghyuck stared at him for a second,

"Do you really want to see it?"

Mark nodded and pulled him to go to the selling point. he followed him and calculated the time he would be back on dorm. Wednesday was going to be a hard day, with him waking up at 6 to go to work.

"Yup. I can't wait to watch victorian girls becoming adults and cry."

Donghyuck laughed and looked over the candy shop. It was empty. Which was nice for once because he hated standing in lines after lines.

"You're a clown."

Mark drew a smirk on his face and pushed Donghyuck into the queue.

"That doesn’t stop you from being always on my circus."

Donghyuck tried very hard not to leave him alone and stop calling him his best friend after that comment, but he retained himself and smiled.

"Haven’t you noticed I feel sorry for you?"

Mark started laughing

"You're so mean."

3.

Donghyuck didn’t get many calls, not even from his family because he was the one to call home every three days to tell them about how his life was going and to ask if they were missing him way too much. And when it actually rang, it was usually Mark. And he knew it because he had a different ringtone for him, not that it was his idea, but Mark’s, since he wanted him to never miss his calls and Donghyuck had a record of ignoring them because he hated talking on the phone.

«What do you want?» he said picking up the call.

Mark produced a tired noise and Donghyuck giggled. He was walking down the street, coming back from the pharmacy after buying Jeno meds for migraine. He liked to think he was a good friend.

«Why don’t you treat me with love?»

He stopped by a traffic light and waited as a line of cars passed in front of him. A Genesis Prada went by him, over the speed limit and playing trap music louder than any other sound in the street. He rolled his eyes and breathed deeply.

«Being annoying is an art, Mark. And I am really good at it.»

Mark sighed and Donghyuck smiled passing the crosswalk.

«Where are you having lunch today?»

Donghyuck checked the time on his phone and was surprised to see it was past noon. His stomach then felt a little empty.

«If my mom hadn't included you in her family and friends package would you still call me every day?»

Mark giggled. Donghyuck entered the campus and greeted the guards with a big smile.

«Probably not.»

«I knew it. You only like me for what I have, not for who I am.»

He opened the door of the student residence building and waited for a couple of girls to come out, they smiled at him and he bowed his head before coming in.

«I will willingly ignore your stupidity and ask once again: what are your plans for lunch?»

«My plans are currently taking a nap and eating something, probably. I want to go to gym before my 4 pm class.»

He called the elevator and sat in a drawer that no one knew what it was used for. A floor coordinator who passed by tried to lecture him but he pretended to be taking a very important call.

«Come to my dorm, I've ordered sushi from that place you like.»

Donghyuck crunched his nose. His feet were swinging and hitting the wood of the furniture.

«Isn't it a little expensive to eat in a weekday?»

It was an unspoken rule, but they would never spend more than $10 in food if it was not weekend.

Nevertheless, Mark was good at breaking their rules, even if it meant regretting it later.

«It's off today.»

«Is it a good discount?»

«Of course it is.»

The elevator got there and the pitch announced it to him. He waited for the people inside to come out and jumped off of his seat.

«I'll bring drinks with me, then.»

«Yeah, that's fine by me. See you in 10.»

He went to his room, gave Jeno his pills and served him a glass of water, he drank it slowly and Donghyuck pouted watching him.

“How are you feeling? Do you need anything else?”

Jeno nodded, Donghyuck smiled and picked up his keys and wallet.

“Are you leaving me?”

“You’re so dramatic, you’re going to be fine. If you have any problem just call me and I’ll come in a second.”

“But I feel sad when I’m alone.”

“Just sleep. Renjun is coming here soon and he’ll keep you company.”

(...)

Donghyuck got to Mark’s dorm at 1, he knocked on the door, although it was already open, and walked in when he heard Mark calling from inside. He had supposed Mark bought some spring rolls and crab sticks. But he wasn't prepared to see almost every dish they sold.

He put the pack of sodas he brought from the store on the coffee table and sat next to Mark, who was setting the take out.

“Oh, dear lord. Why did you buy this many things?” He counted roughly and got scared of how much he could have spent on it. “There’s only two of us.”

Donghyuck raised an eyebrow and took one Coke. He opened it with his teeth, causing Mark to shiver and shake his head. Donghyuck laughed and Mark made a motion all over the food.

“Like half of this was free.”

Donghyuck lifted up his chin and half-closed his eyes.

“You always get confused about the meaning of ‘free’.”

Mark giggled and picked up the lids of the containers to put them in an empty bag to throw later in the trash. Donghyuck passed him a soda and he smiled taking it and putting it next to him.

“Not this time!”

Mark grabbed his keychain, that had a bottle opener (Donghyuck clowned him when he bought it in the $1 store), and uncapped his drink.

Donghyuck let himself fall on the couch and grabbed a roll and gobbled it up. Mark drew a disgusted expression and looked away.

“I will not ask any more questions because this is fantastic,” he said when he swallowed it.

Mark passed him bamboo chopsticks and Donghyuck giggled rolling his eyes.

“And because you’re a freeloader.”

He ate a bit of radish and Donghyuck smiled, he would always start with the side dishes.

Saying cheesy things wasn’t Donghyuck’s strong point, but moments like those were the ones that made him feel thankful with the universe for putting Mark in his life. He was always there, making him laugh, spending time with him doing the least interesting activities and turning them into a beautiful memory.

“My dream is to find someone who pays for my bills. What can I say?”

Mark giggled and pushed him away. Donghyuck laughed out loud.

4.

Thursday was an easy day. Donghyuck's first class started at 9 am and he was done by 2 pm. That day none of his professors sent an assignment so he could chill without feeling guilty.

“What are we doing today, my dudes?”

Donghyuck wasn’t a very social person, so his friends in college consisted of Mark, Jungwoo when he wasn’t making fun of him, and his roommates, with whom he spent a lot of time with.

When he first met his roommates, he got worried about two of them being boyfriends, but not only they were very respectful of their common spaces but also his third roommate, fortunately, turned out to be scary and he made sure to speak the rules of their room. After only a couple of months, they became really important or him and their friendship flourished.

They would usually have lunch together after the only class they had together, Biology 101. None of them was a slow eater, so they were done with their food 10 minutes after sitting down but none of them wanted to move.

“I’m having a date with Yukhei,” Renjun said. Jeno left out a little ‘aw’ and his friend rolled his eyes.

Jaemin was the one picking up their mess, so he stopped himself to talk.

“Jaehyun is gonna help me with Epistemology." He took a look at his watch, clicked his tongue and picked up his bag. “And he’s gonna kill me because I’m late.”

Donghyuck looked over the table and met his eyes with Jeno. He smiled and put down the lemonade he was drinking.

“I have to do stuff.” He was sure if he asked Jeno what he had to do he would start laughing and shake his head. But he decided to not insist because if they didn’t want to spend time with him it had to be for a reason.

Donghyuck seriously considered getting new friends, but he didn’t get into action because that wasn’t going to be easy for him.

“Why don’t you hang out with Mark?” Renjun asked as they all did handshakes with Jaemin (who decided cleaning the table was not his problem anymore), Jeno kissed him and they watched him go.

"He's got classes.”

Jeno whistled.

“I don’t think so. Dejun uploaded a story with him in their dorm a little while, so..." He took his phone out of his pocket and showed it to him.

Donghyuck grabbed the phone to see the screen making his friend complain and Renjun started laughing.

“That doesn’t make sense, he has class, what was he doing? Who does he think he is?”

Jeno snatched his phone back and stuck his tongue out.

“Why are you mad at us?” Renjun asked. “Talk to him!”

“You’re so wise...”

He got up, high fived both of them and left the cantine. He heard them whispering and giggling and he decided not to think about it.

He got out of the dining hall and made his way towards the 3rd years' residence buildings. Humanities dorm was the second one with the least amount of students living in there, right after the science one, and it was where Mark lived. Donghyuck envied the business one, it was so big it had two entertainment rooms and it was a lot closer to the pool than any other. 

He politely said hi to some people he didn’t remember the name of and came in the place following a group of football players. He held his breath and hoped they’d stay on the first floor. They smelt horrible. But when they got in the elevator Donghyuck decided to use the stairs and turned around.

At least Mark lived on the third floor, and not in the five (it was practically empty), so when he knocked on the door he was not tired at all.

Yukhei opened the door holding an ice cream sandwich and his cellphone on one hand.

“Mark is in the bathroom,” he said when Donghyuck walked in.

He opened his mouth and put his hand on his chest.

“I could be here to talk to you, for once, you know?”

Yukhei showed him a big smile and raised his eyebrows.

“You don’t even know my last name.”

Donghyuck raised his index and made a funny face.

“Hong?”

He shook his head and started laughing.

“Nice try. But not as good. We’re going to have to be friends sooner or later, you know that?”

It was not that he disliked Yukhei, no one probably could. But he felt intimidated. Not only he was at least a palm taller than him, but he was also talkative, strongly opinionated and also the first boy who tried to date Renjun since he met him.

“I thought you had a date today”

“Damn! You’re right.” He ate what he had left on his hand with a single bite and started putting on his shoes. “Thank you, Hyuckie.” He smiled at him and left the room without saying anything more.

What a weird guy he was.

"Did he leave?" Mark asked walking out of the bathroom. He had his hair wet, his shirt was stuck to his torso due to him not drying himself, he was barefoot and his face was radiant.

"Yes." Donghyuck sat down on Mark's bed and watched as he tried drying his hair with his towel. "Why are you showering just now?"

Mark walked to his closet and took out a pair of cat socks to put on.

"Because I hadn't showered today."

Donghyuck rolled his eyes and hugged Mark’s big lion plushie and let himself lay on the bed. Mark wasn’t very organized, but he liked his things smelling nice, so he would pay extra in the laundry room for them to use green apple clothes softener.

"That is obvious, Markus. Did you skip class?"

Mark shook his head and sat in a chair, he raised his legs and slid his feet into the socks.

"It was canceled." Donghyuck raised an eyebrow and Mark ignored him walking towards his Switch. "Want to play Super Mario Bros?"

"You didn't have it last week."

Mark smiled, took the controllers and threw one to the bed. Donghyuck caught it before it touched the sheets and made a peace sign.

"I illegally downloaded it today."

Donghyuck sat again, not letting MichelAngelo, the plushie lion, go. He looked at Mark with curious eyes.

"Was it hard?"

"Nope."

"I like you committing crimes against big companies."

Mark left out a loud laugh and laid next to him, putting his head in Donghyuck’s lap and being crushed by a toy.

"Of course you do."

5.

Ever since high school, Friday afternoon Mark and Donghyuck studied together.

They'd hang out together every day of that week, and if it was someone else, Donghyuck would be tired of him, because it was hard for him to share his spaces. Sometimes he would stay outside until 2 am so he could make sure all his friends were asleep when he came back to dorm, he loved them, but they were people, and people tired him. But Mark, Mark was the only person he couldn't get enough of; he was convinced they shared halves of the same soul.

Earlier he got surprised by Taeil, his childhood crush and then the closest thing he had to an older brother, when he came out of class and he was waiting for him outside the building.

"You're old for uni. Why are you here?"

"Do you want to have lunch with me?" Taeil asked him.

"What happened with Yuta?"

Taeil clicked his tongue and passed him his motorcycle helmet.

"He's… busy today."

"I see." He put on the helmet and Taeil laughed at the image. "Are we going somewhere?"

"I've cooked something."

Donghyuck smiled, homemade food sounded amazing for once. He hadn't had some in ages and his friend cooked amazingly since he started living alone. He then lived with his boyfriend, Yuta, and cooked less frequently, but his abilities remained the same.

They crossed the city in about 20 minutes and when they got to Taeil's house, he received a call from Yuta and Donghyuck had to wait in front of the door an uncomfortable amount of time.

"Is everything fine?," he questioned when Taeil hung the phone and went to open the door.

"It will be."

He didn't know what to say, so he came closer to Taeil and hugged him tightly. He could feel him relaxing in his arms and smiled.

They entered the place and Donghyuck walked to the kitchen while Taeil went to his room to change his clothes for something comfier.

He had cooked pasta and Donghyuck thought it couldn't be really called homemade since it was Italian, but it was delicious nonetheless.

They ate while talking about their days and after they were finished Donghyuck washed the dishes and Taeil put them away.

Once the kitchen was shimmering they went to the living and played Fifa for a while. Donghyuck won every single one of the matches because Taeil never really learned how to play.

When Donghyuck started packing his stuff Taeil picked his landline and pointed to him with it.

"Want me to call you a cab?"

Donghyuck laughed and shook his head

"You know I don't much money."

Taeil smiled taking his wallet out and pressing the numbers to call the taxi company.

"Who are you talking to?"

Donghyuck knew he wouldn't win if he refused to accept his money because Taeil was annoying enough to call his mother and tell her he was being disrespectful to him, which he wanted to avoid, so he rolled his eyes and nodded.

"Sorry. Yes, please. I have to meet Mark soon."

(...)

Donghyuck arrived late to the library, he hoped Mark was already inside because when he knew it was probably full and he didn't want to go somewhere else to study.

Mark had picked a table that could be used to more than two people, but there was only an empty chair next to him, as the rest were probably taken by people from other tables.

"How is it going, Lee?" Donghyuck greeted giving him a smile and moving the seat. "I'm going to sit on your bag."

Mark raised his head, looked at him holding a smile, and picked his backpack up. Donghyuck giggled and sat down.

"Will you ever say hi like a normal person?"

Donghyuck shook his head as he took his things out of his backpack and moved Mark's things aside.

"To you? No. Where is the fun in that?"

Mark rolled his eyes and put his things together giving Donghyuck space.

"Whatever." Donghyuck giggled and opened his laptop to turn it on and see what he had hanging for the next week. " I have something for you."

Donghyuck's eyes were probably shining. He loved being told those words out of nowhere. Not that he was materialistic, but he liked people who thought about him even when he wasn't around.

Mark picked something up from the floor and smiled at Donghyuck. He would be already happy with something from Mark's favorite place, the $1 store.

But what he brought him, that was more than enough.

"Sunflowers?" Donghyuck took the bouquet with shaking hands. "I've never been given flowers. These are…"

"Your favorite ones? I know." Donghyuck looked was speechless. "In my way here from the bank I saw this flower shop that had a sale and when I saw sunflowers I thought about you..."

Donghyuck smiled and shushed him, moving closer to him and leaving a kiss on his cheek.

"You're the sweetest, Mark. Thank you."

That afternoon Donghyuck studied all the chapters of Literature he would need for the next weeks, but he didn't remember any of it when it came to the time. Because all he could think of was how warm his chest felt and the scent of the flowers.

+1

Donghyuck was back to dorm early, because that day Mark had badminton practice (a competition was coming soon) and he would never miss it.

He was the first in the room, and when his friends came one by one, they cuddled in the bigger of their beds and ate something while watching an episode of How It's Made.

"Which one of you guys got flowers today?," Jeno asked when he got up to throw their trash. "I hope it was not Jaemin because I'm not in the mood for fighting someone over his love."

"As if you could fight someone over anything, baby."

Jeno frowned and Renjun showed a disgusted look.

Donghyuck giggled and got up, reminding himself he had to put them on water if he didn't want them to whiter soon.

"It was me. Mark brought them to our study date. They were on a sale."

Their friends looked at each other and started laughing.

"He thinks he's so slick," Renjun said. "A sale of sunflowers today."

Donghyuck furrowed his eyebrows and filled a big vase of soda with bottled water to put there the flowers.

"What do you mean?"

Jeno sat up from his bed.

"Hyuckie, today is valentines. If there must be something on sale it should be roses."

Donghyuck stopped himself and Jaemin got up to finish the labor for him

"Oh."

"I can't believe you haven't noticed how weird he's been acting this week."

"Oh my god. I've been going out with Mark."

He wasn't sure if he disliked it. The thought of dating Mark scared him, but it also excited him. It was not the first time he thought about doing it, he had some weird dreams involving kissing Mark when he was younger, and it made him have a weird crush on him for almost a month. From time to time he would think about how having Mark as boyfriend could be like, as he was sure Mark was better than anyone could dream.

But he never thought he would ever have to think about the possibility of it becoming true.

  
(...)

Donghyuck stood in the grandstand in front of the badminton court and stared at Mark long enough to make him look at him and leave his teammate alone to talk to him

"Hyuck? What are you doing here? You despise sports."

Donghyuck didn't blink even once.

"You've been acting weird."

Mark scrunched his nose and tilted his head.

"Are you okay?

Donghyuck wasn't good at relationships, he barely liked people and it was even weirder that they liked them back.

Feelings weren't his thing.

He also cherished Mark's friendship more than anything, he couldn't see his life without him in it and it frightened him to lose his affection over a dumb reason.

But he was ready to risk it all. He was done being scared of the future.

"Do you like me, Mark?"

Mark opened his eyes wide and came closer to him.

"What?"

"Answer me."

"Why are you asking me that?"

"You've been having dates with me all this week. Spending money on me. Using dumb excuses to explain your behavior. Why? Is it because of Valentine's day?"

Donghyuck looked askance at the couch arguing with Mark's teammate and getting mad at his friend. He put his hands at both sides of his waist and started screaming.

"Mark Lee, you better come back here at this exact moment!"

"I have to go."

"I'll wait right here," Donghyuck warned, sitting down. Mark sighed and jogged next to his couch.

An hour never went slower.

As Mark ran through the field Donghyuck asked himself why he didn't notice the joy he brought to his life.

Of course he never really had an interest in anyone after high school, he already had a crush on Mark. He was pathetically and completely in love with him. And it was about time he admitted it.

"See you Tuesday," he finally heard.

Mark made a sign he was going to get changed and Donghyuck shook his head.

He could see Mark curse under his breath and he felt the anxiety filling up his chest.

He got up, walked near to the end of the grandstand and used all of his energy to jump from there to the field.

"Fuck."

His feet received the impact and it shook him to the core. He had to breathe in and out several times to get over the pain and hating every single one of his decisions up until then he moved towards Mark.

He was about to pass out of laughter.

"You're a dumbass."

"I hate you." Mark smiled and Donghyuck's mind went blank. "And I'm in love with you."

Mark's eyes looked like stars reflecting the light of the lamps, Donghyuck hated him for looking so good after two hours of physical activity.

"I wish I could deny I'm in love with you too, but if you're here that's because you already know it."

"Is this how we're confessing to each other?"

Mark laughed loud and clear.

"It was you who started it."

"But I didn't want it to turn out like this."

"How did you wanted it to be?"

"I don't know! I didn't know I was in love with you too until today!"

Mark took him by the waist and moved him towards his body.

"Now it's gonna be even less romantic with this being our first kiss."

He put his hand on Donghyuck's cheek and met their lips together. Donghyuck smiled and pressed their foreheads together.

"You taste horrible."

"Says the one who was eating hot Cheetos before getting himself a boyfriend."


End file.
